HAMMERFALL's JOACIM CANS: CHUCK SCHULDINER Was 'Living Proof That You Shouldn't Judge People By What Other People Say'

In a new interview with Jaimunji, vocalist Joacim Cans of Swedish metallers HAMMERFALL reflected on his band's 1998 U.S. tour as the support act for the pioneering American death metal band DEATH. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Touring with [DEATH mastermind] Chuck Schuldiner, it was just a great honor to get to know him before it was too late. We became really good friends. And I remember when we recorded the [2000 HAMMERFALL album] 'Renegade' album in Nashville, that was the last time I talked to him. This was in 2000 — was it 2000 or 2001? I can't really remember, but just a couple of months before he passed. And he called and just wanted to check up on us and see how things were. And then we lost him way too soon — way too soon.

"I think Chuck was a living proof that you shouldn't judge people by what other people say," Joacim continued. "And I got so many comments, like, 'Oh, you're going on tour with DEATH. Oh my God, be careful. Chuck is such a bad person' or blah, blah, blah, blah. And he was the nicest person. I mean, we had so much fun, so much respect from him.

"I remember the first day [of the tour] — they were [the] headliners," Cans added. "We were, support, special guest, call it whatever you want. And I was a little afraid at first, like, 'We're traditional heavy metal band and you're death metal.' 'Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. We all play metal. We're all in this together.' Like, 'Okay. Okay. So, okay. We can do this tour.' First day, Springfield, Virginia, before the show, [we said], like, 'Hey, are we playing 40 minutes, 45?' And Chuck looked at me, like, 'You can play as long as you like.' We're doing this tour together.' [I said], 'No, no, no, no. We can't play. You're the headliner. Can we play 50 minutes?' 'Play an hour, play an hour and a half. It doesn't matter.' He was such a cool guy.

"We formed this band together called THE WAFFLE HEADS, based out of merchandise from Waffle House, the chain of restaurants, Waffle House," Cans said. "So we got aprons, we got hats. And we actually did a show in Atlanta on the last show day under the name of THE WAFFLE HEADS."

Schuldiner died on December 13, 2001 after a battle with pontine glioma, a rare type of brain tumor. He was only 34 years old.

In recent years, DEATH's storied catalog has undergone a meticulous reissue campaign via Relapse Records.

HAMMERFALL's latest album, "Avenge The Fallen", was released in August via Nuclear Blast Records.

In December 2022, HAMMERFALL, which started its career in 1997 on Nuclear Blast with its debut album "Glory To The Brave", announced that it was returning to the long-running German label.

HAMMERFALL's entire Nuclear Blast catalog, from "Glory To The Brave" to the 2014 album "(r)Evolution" was certified with a diamond award for over 1.5 million worldwide sales.

Following on from "Renegade" (2000),"Crimson Thunder" (2002) and "No Sacrifice, No Victory" (2009),HAMMERFALL's fifth studio album, "Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken" from 2005, became the band's fourth album to go gold in Sweden, while "Crimson Thunder" even went platinum, surpassing 60,000 sales in the group's home country.

In April 2023, HAMMERFALL released a special platinum edition of "Crimson Thunder" with tons of bonus material.

Photo credit: Tallee Savage (courtesy of Nuclear Blast)